Are Bitcoin Miners Abandoning Mining for AI? Riot’s Anthropic Deal Has the Answer

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) miners are increasingly looking beyond crypto mining toward AI infrastructure, as access to massive amounts of power becomes potentially more valuable than the BTC mining machines plugged into it.

Are Mining Economics Less Attractive?

In a podcast on Aug. 12, prominent crypto investor and "Wolf of All Streets" host Scott Melker argued on what may have been miners’ most valuable resource all along.

The deal represents one of the clearest examples yet of Bitcoin miners repurposing their power-rich infrastructure for the booming AI computing market.

Melker said miners’ biggest asset may not be mining equipment but access to electricity and infrastructure capable of supporting energy-intensive computing.

Riot’s own numbers help explain the attraction. The company reported an average cost to mine Bitcoin of $49,912 during Q2, excluding depreciation, up from $48,992 a year earlier. Riot produced 1,587 BTC during the quarter.

Melker noted that once depreciation and other expenses are considered, the economics of mining become substantially less attractive, particularly with Bitcoin trading well below its October 2025 all-time high.

Other BTC miners have also been exploring AI and high-performance computing opportunities, turning what was once primarily a Bitcoin-mining infrastructure story into a broader race to monetize scarce power capacity.